President Donald Trump said Friday that he wasn’t aware of the effort to have him pardon Derek Chauvin, the white police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd.
‘No I haven’t even heard about it,’ Trump answered Friday in the Oval Office.
Floyd’s May 2020 death at the hands of Chauvin cued widespread protests and propelled the Black Lives Matter movement to the forefront of American politics.
Trump, in turn, ran counter to it during his quest for reelection that year.
During one of Trump’s most controversial moments in office, Black Lives Matter protesters were tear gassed and H Street N.W. was cleared so that the Republican president could march over to Saint John’s Church and hold up a Bible.
The historic yellow church located just steps from the White House had its basement nursery lit on fire during the demonstrations over Floyd’s death at the hands of Chauvin.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro has publicly called on Trump to pardon the officer for the federal crimes associated with Floyd’s death – with DOGE leader Elon Musk retweeting a Shapiro post and commenting, ‘Something to think about.’
Chuavin was convicted in April 2021 on the state charges of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter – and was the first white police officer convicted in the death of a black victim in Minnesota history.
President Donald Trump said Friday that he wasn’t aware of the effort to have him pardon Derek Chauvin, the white police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd. ‘No I haven’t even heard about it,’ Trump answered
Derek Chuavin (left) was convicted on state and federal charges over the May 2020 killing of George Floyd (right), a Minneapolis black man whose death propelled the Black Lives Matter movement to the forefront of American politics
He was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison on the state charges.
In June 2021, Chauvin was also convicted on federal charges including depriving Floyd of his civil rights. Chauvin also was convicted of depriving a 14-year-old of his civil rights in a separate case.
He received 21 years in prison for those charges – but is serving the terms concurrently.
If Trump decided to pardon Chauvin, the state charges and 22.5 year sentence would hold.
Still, it would be a symbolic win against the Black Lives Matter movement.
Trump and his MAGA movement have been more broadly against any moves toward racial equality that would put the white majority at a disadvantage.
Since taking office in January, Trump has purged the federal government of DEI -diversity, equity and inclusion – programs, which aimed to diversify the federal workforce.
The Trump administration has also tried to undo some of the racially sensitive measures put in place on the heels of Floyd’s death.
President Donald Trump holds up a Bible in front of St. John’s Church near the White House on June 1, 2020 after it was damaged during the Black Lives Matter protests over the death of George Floyd. Trump ran counter to Black Lives Matter during his reelection bid that year
One such move came from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to revert Fort Liberty’s name to Fort Bragg.
In the aftermath of the killing of Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests that broke out, the military started making moves to rid bases of names of Confederate officers, who had sought to preserve slavery during the Civil War.
Trump was so against this move that he vetoed a military spending bill in December 2020, after losing his reelection race to President Joe Biden.
Congress overruled his veto and in 2023 Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty.
Last month, Hegseth announced that Fort Bragg would return.
What Hegseth didn’t tout publicly, but was contained in the order, is that Fort Bragg would now be named after Roland L. Bragg, a heroic American World War II fighter, and not the Confederate general credited with helping the South lose the Civil War.
